Jesse James rides again—sort of. With inescapable logic but questionable results, director Walter Hill hit upon the notion of casting the real-life brothers Keach (Stacy and James) as the historical brothers James (Frank and Jesse). Then he contracted the Carradine clan (David, Keith and Robert) to play Cole, Jim and Bob Younger and hired Randy and Dennis Quaid and Nicholas and Christopher Guest also to portray on-screen siblings. Hill's visual approach is as arresting as it was in The Warriors, and his penchant for shooting gun-fights in slow motion with plenty of ketchup flying about recalls Peckinpah at his peak. Once the all-in-the-family novelty wears off, though, so does the raison d'être of this otherwise straightforward retelling of an oft-told Western tale. (R)
Your Reaction
